Dark Waters
(Siraa Fil-Mina)

Chahine dives into the heart of Alexandria — a port suspended between sea and factories, a melting pot of social and romantic unrest. The return of the sailor Ragab, carrying a few savings and dreams, collides with the machinery of power relations — workers against bosses, desire against inheritance. The black and white photography becomes political matter: shadow of a system, foam of hatred, weight of destiny. Chahine does not merely film a thwarted romance; he listens to the murmur of the harbor, the silences of the docks, the hardening of stares. Within the confined spaces between cargo and duty, a breach opens — not one of escape, but of a realization, that of a world in need of rebuilding. Love becomes an act, anger a movement — and the port itself, a political subject. Jérôme Baron